I went on the Tom Brady diet and workout plan and it changed my life -- here's what it was like

I tried the intense diet and fitness regimens that 40-year-old NFL quarterback Tom Brady touts in his new book “The TB 12 Method.” A combination of workouts focused on “pliability,” or adding flexibility to muscles through a series of workouts with resistance bands. Brady also stays away from alcohol, caffeine, dairy, and sugar. His diet puts an emphasis on vegetables and lean meats. This is what it was like to eat and train like Tom Brady for a week, including a taste test of the avocado ice cream Brady is known to enjoy. The following is a transcript of the video.

Graham Flanagan: For a week, I tried the Tom Brady “TB 12” fitness and diet plan. So Tom Brady’s got this new book called the “TB 12 Method.”

In the book, he outlines in detail the fitness regimens he undertakes, and diet as well. So there’s lots of aspects of my life dealing with nutrition and fitness that I can improve.

I work out like three or four times a week, but it’s pretty basic. I’m mainly lifting weights. The workouts that Tom Brady pushes in his book are all focused on pliability. And Tom Brady defines pliability as targeted, deep-force muscle work that lengthens and softens muscles. He’s focused on making your muscles more flexible. And we do this by using bands.

I ordered a set of bands on Amazon for about $US30. I just looked up exercises that, in the book, were recommended, then also other ones on Youtube. I bought, like, a door anchor as well so you can, like, set the bands up high and do some, like, chest presses and you know, work the pecs a little bit.

Tom Brady is a big believer in these loop bands, which you can do lots of different types of workouts with. There’s lots of things you can do with this, and I love the bands.

You can definitely feel a difference between doing a workout with these bands and then, like, doing your typical weight room workout where you kind of feel destroyed after. You do a lot of reps with this, like 60 reps over the course of like three sets, you’re gonna feel it. Like, I feel it right now, and it’s awesome.

In terms of the food that I ate during the week, you’re staying away from sugars and dairies and refined carbohydrates, etc. It’s a lot of vegetables, lean white meats. We had ground turkey burgers over lots of greens, peppers, and carrots. We also had a grilled chicken breast, some Brussels sprouts, and then quinoa. The during the day, I would eat an apple. I would eat almonds.

Tom Brady is all about the hydration and constantly drinking water. It’s recommended that you take your total body weight, cut that in half, and then drink the corresponding amount of ounces of water that’s half your body weight. Every day I would drink approximately 90 ounces of water. Three big Poland Spring bottles of water.

In terms of caffeine, I usually drink like four cups of coffee a day on average, which is a lot. It’s too much. Tom Brady — he does not drink caffeine, but he recommended a maximum amount of 200 milligrams of caffeine a day, which is two cups of coffee.

In terms of alcohol, Tom Brady, in the book, says that he does occasionally have a cocktail, but he says that, if you’re going to drink alcohol, you need to match the ounce-amount of alcohol that you drink with water. So if you have a 12-ounce beer, you need to drink a 12-ounce glass of water.

One of the dishes that I tried was the avocado ice cream, which Tom Brady’s been famous for making before. I wasn’t a fan of the avocado ice cream. Sorry, Tom.

Overall, the Tom Brady “TB 12” experience was a big improvement over my regular routine. Throughout this entire process, from day one to day two to day three, I woke up feeling great. I was excited about my workout. I was excited about eating healthy, and I would look forward to my meals.

I just want to be able to be active, healthy, be able to exercise and work out and look good and feel good. And I think that the principles in the Tom Brady book are gonna help me to do that.